Monday, January 29, 2007

Listening to these old records requires a certain leap of faith. They are, after all, mostly beat up, juked, worn and somewhat distorted. However, I have found in some circumstances, they are a totally different listening experience than the flattened remastered versions I have come to know and mostly love. This record here is a case in point. I've probably listened to the CD reissue of Slim's Specialty sides a hundred times. They are some of the greatest records made by one of New Orleans' greatest showmen of the fifties. The recordings featured here sound very different than the versions I and maybe you know. This session apparently took a couple of days, as Slim brought a lot of chaos with him wherever he went. One of the musicians needed to be bailed out of Jail. The piano player was Ray Charles, whose arrangements here are more than familiar. You can hear him yell "Yeah!" at the end of the "A"side. When Johnny Vincent sent the tapes to Art Rupe at Specialty he was not impressed, and said it was the worst shit he'd ever heard. Rupe released it anyway, and had Specialty's biggest hit to date, in 1954. Stay tuned for more Slim.